R2880 Railroad 9F

[Phipps]

At last,it would seem Hornby have released this,which caught me by surprise............
http://www.ehattons.com/StockDetail.aspx?SID=25863
Any thoughts,bearing in mind it's meant to be a "budget loco"?
If it's as good as the Evening Star they did,then I'm having one,or possibly two to make a Black Prince with one of them.

[Bushey Troughs]

I know it's not as good as my Bachmann 9F, but at nearly half the price, I may join you in buying a pair. Re-numbered to 1A Willesden locomotives.
I think Hornby have stolen the march on Bachmann with the Railroad range......

[Phipps]

Good point about the Bachmann version,Bushey.I think the only-slight lack of detail on Hornby's is probably what appeals to me.
Some will no doubt point out the old Hornby couplings too(always seem unsightly).
But I think adding some very minimal colour to the tender axle-boxes(& in 92203's case,the blue spot to the cabsides),you have a fairly decent replica for half the cost(as you rightly mention).
I'm also glad they chose a number at random,rather than go for one already preserved,which gives me the excuse to get two

[Spavo]

I have the Evening Star railroad version and for the money it is superb, dcc ready as well....I am very tempted!

[Phipps]

Mine arrived today.........
DEFINATELY worth the money I paid for it,honestly,despite me seeming a bit biased.Nice little detail touches(handrails on loco boiler/smokebox & detailing on the tender too).
I can certify that it is LOCO DRIVEN,has a very small detailing pack & definately DCC ready.With a Bachmann priced at twice this,I would honestly get two for the cost of £108.You could do a LOT,LOT worse

[Phipps]

Oh,BTW here's a link to a picture of the original 92221 for you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:92221 ... nction.jpg

[Paul-H]

Went to get a Bachmann 9F today and had a good look at the Hornby version and was quite tempted by the £59 price tag, mind in the end I still went with the Bachmann, it had that touch of quality that was missing from the Hornby.

Paul

[Phipps]

I totally agree Paul,there IS a big difference & I'm most certainly not rubbishing Bachmann's effort,far from it.Bachmann's locomotives are fantastic(the one's I have are anyway)
My POV is that I'm not really after Super-Fine detail in particular & with this,I can get a late-crest version with the correct tender to make my version of 92203 Black Prince AND not spend a large amount of money either.
Comparing the two would be pointless(you get what you're paying for),but I just think with Hornby's you're getting that little bit more at a decent price

[Bigmet]

The Hornby 9F has always been one of the better models in the range, once it was advanced to 'superdetail' (in 1998?) it was basically 'right'; and it just got better when Hornby fitted loco drive. Bit weird that it is in Railroad, as it is a lot better than some main range items, but it is a savvy marketing move by Hornby against Bachmann's better but significantly more expensive model. There are a couple of quick and simple improvements you might like to think about.

Take the glazing out of the rear cab window. These were always open when the locos were running, check any photo including that of 92221 which you posted.

Add the rear ashpan doors (the 'lump' that drops below the ashpan under the cab front) to match the forward ashpan doors which are represented.

There's quite lot more that can be done to further improve this model, (and without spending any money as it is just modification of the supplied parts) but you really need a drawing to do them. They are well worth the time and effort, because the essential character of the loco is well captured.

[Phipps]

Genius Bigmet...Thank you for your welcome input.
In doing my research,the information I found has confirmed what I had hoped.I'm glad to find out this particular engine finished up in the North East to be scrapped,therefore......
I'm going to use a bit of Artistic Licence & this old girl will be "hidden" from it's scrapping date until the early 1970s.It will then become the first aquisition of my heritage line,sent to Carnforth for restoration etc & eventually become a permanent resident of the line...........

[SirMeliot]

it just got better when Hornby fitted loco drive. Bit weird that it is in Railroad, as it is a lot better than some main range item

The rumour was that Hornby were tooling an all-new 9F but Bachmann beat them to it. The chassis destined for the new 9F ended up in the Railroad range since they'd already done it.

[Paul-H]

As I understand it, the new Hornby has a new loco drive system but they have supplied the old tender which still has all the mounting lugs for the motor, and the connecting plug for the wiring as well, so might be interesting to add a tender drive as well.

Paul

[Raider]

I can confirm that the tender is the motor ready version. There are also pickups on 2 sets of tender bogies so there should be no problems with dead spots.

[Phipps]

The rumour was that Hornby were tooling an all-new 9F but Bachmann beat them to it. The chassis destined for the new 9F ended up in the Railroad range since they'd already done it.

So in fact it's an almost new-tooled locomotive in the old-tooling range of stock then?
A proper bargain then

[roadie stu]

I have the Railroad Evening Star for a while now and have been very impressed at the quality and reliability of the model and the price as well, I'm pleased to hear that the plain black version has now been released, and I'll be setting a few quid aside to purchase one